Casey Kelly

Energy consumption was down 13 percent in Juneau between 2007 and 2010, leading to a 10 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. But the city’s Commission on Sustainability has a more ambitious goal – to reduce the 2007 emissions level 25 percent in the next 20 years.

To get there the commission working on a Climate Action Plan that it hopes will be adopted by the CBJ Assembly later this year. Zoe Morrison is with Sheinberg Associates, one of two consulting firms helping the Sustainability Commission write the plan. She says the 25 percent goal is in line with other communities, as well as state and federal targets and international agreements aimed at reducing emissions.

“And it’s also a level of reduction that we think is achievable for Juneau,” said Morrison. “So, it’s something that makes sense and that over the next 20 years we can get to.”

The plan outlines more than a hundred actions the city, its residents, and businesses can take to reduce energy consumption. It also sets emissions reduction targets for things like vehicles and buildings. Morrison says the plan uses software developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency for calculating emissions with adjustments made for Juneau.

“So for transportation there’s a series of goals and for each goal we’ve done an estimate of what the reduction potential is for each goal,” Morrison said.

Morrison and Amy Skilbred from Skilbred Consulting presented the draft plan to the CBJ Assembly Committee of the Whole last night. Deputy Mayor Merrill Sanford said he’d like to more detail on how much some of the actions would cost in the final version.

“Some of these things are going to be very costly to either an individual or to business or to us as government,” Sanford said. “So somehow I would like to see some of those costs.”

But Karen Crane – the assembly’s liaison to the Sustainability Commission – said it’s important for the report to list as many action items as possible and let future assemblies decide which ones to pursue.

“Some of the recommendations may be some things in here that individual members want to do and others don’t. But to get to that 25 percent it’s really going to be a decision by decision basis, you know, as we go forward, is this economical? Does it make sense for the community?” said Crane.

The Sustainability Commission plans to hold a public meeting on the Climate Action Plan this fall. The goal is to bring it back to the assembly in December for adoption.

In 2007, the assembly passed a resolution joining the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, or ICLEI. Adopting a Climate Action Plan is part of becoming an ICLEI member. The greenhouse gas emissions inventories conducted in 2007 and 2010 were also part of that effort.

Tough times in store for Alaska’s nonprofit sector…

For years, organizations in the state have paid the bills by relying on government grants, as well as contributions from corporations and private foundations. But those revenues are drying up, according to Anchorage-based nonprofit consulting firm Foraker Group and the University of Alaska’s Institute of Social and Economic Research.

Last year, they published their second report on Alaska’s nonprofit economy. Casey Kelly has more.

The Juneau Police Department says two teenagers are responsible for a string of vandalism incidents in the Lemon Creek Area.

One of the youths – a 17-year-old boy – was arrested 10 days ago on an unrelated warrant. Officers say he was spotted by members of the Juneau Citizen’s Patrol leaving the area of Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School shortly after it had been hit with a considerable amount of graffiti.

Police Spokeswoman Cindee Brown-Mills says a subsequent investigation revealed the 17-year-old and a 19-year-old male had tagged the word “toke” in several locations around Lemon Creek.

JPD has forwarded charges of criminal mischief against both to the Juneau District Attorney’s office. Neither suspect is being named at this time per department policy.

Brown-Mills says the vandalism resulted in approximately 1,120 dollars in damage to the school and nearby buildings.

The investigation is ongoing.

Juneau’s Planning Commission last night recommended the CBJ Assembly extend the city’s downtown Parking District 1 throughout the entire Willoughby District.

The move would reduce the amount of required off-street parking in the neighborhood by 60 percent. Retail and office buildings would go from having to provide one space per 300 square feet to one space per 750 square feet.

CBJ Community Development Director Dale Pernula says the goal is for property owners in the area to consolidate parking.

“Trying to become more of a pedestrian oriented area, like the core of downtown,” said Pernula. “Rather than all the parking be on all the individual lots that it be more often than not provided by public parking lots.”

Parking District 1 currently includes the downtown core, as well as Willoughby Avenue and Whittier Street around the JAHC and Centennial Hall. If the Assembly adopts the recommendation it would encompass the rest of Willoughby all the way to Gold Creek.

Pernula expects the Assembly to hold a hearing in about two months.

The change is recommended in the city’s Willoughby District Land Use Plan.

Alaska’s summer hiring boom is in full effect. The economy added about 20,000 jobs in June, according to monthly employment statistics released Friday by the state Labor Department.

State Economist Mali Abrahamson says the visitor industry led the way, adding more than 5,000 jobs from May to June. Tourism jobs were up more than 2,400 from June 2010.

“Putting us back closer to levels that we were seeing in 2007 and 2008 before consumer confidence kind of tanked during the recession and we saw a decline,” Abrahamson said.

Health care continues to have one of the largest and fastest growing job bases in Alaska, while oil and gas and mining have remained steady or seen moderate growth. The government sector took a dip from May to June as jobs in education dropped from payrolls for the summer.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly to 7.5 percent in June. But Abrahamson calls the increase statistically insignificant, as May’s rate was revised down from 7.4 percent to 7.3 percent. She says the increase can be attributed to more people looking for work.

For the 31st consecutive month Alaska’s unemployment rate was below the national average of 9.2 percent – up slightly from 9.1 percent in May. Abrahamson says states with resource-based economies, like Alaska’s, appear to have done well at weathering the national recession.

“Rather than the manufacturing, the residential construction – where you saw a lot of losses in the Lower 48 – not so much up in Alaska,” said Abrahamson.” And that’s true of other states that have similar features, North Dakota for instance.”

Juneau’s unemployment rate went from 4.9 percent in May to 5.5 percent last month – the same rate as June 2010.

The lowest unemployment rate in the state last month was two percent in Bristol Bay, where hiring in the fishing industry was strong. The highest rate was 23.5 percent in Western Alaska’s Wade Hampton Census Area, which has experienced chronic under-employment.

The search continues today for a missing plane that crashed in the mountains near Eaglecrest Ski Area on Douglas Island.

The U.S. Coast Guard says a debris field was found yesterday evening, including an engine and propeller, at the base of a 50-foot cliff after searchers traced an emergency locater transmitter signal.

Low clouds, wind, and poor visibility hampered yesterday’s search for the single engine Cessna – reportedly flying from Hoonah to Juneau. Coast Guard spokesman David Mosely says the plane was coming from Anchorage and had stopped in Hoonah. He says the pilot failed to make a scheduled check-in with Juneau flight services and was reported missing at 6:43 a.m.

“They had done a call in with the air services, the flight service there in Juneau, at about 10 miles out and then did not do their scheduled next check in before landing there in Juneau,” Mosely said.

The EPIRB signal took a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter low over the Mount Ben Stewart and Cropley Lake area yesterday afternoon, but wind and low clouds forced the chopper crew to abandon the air search before they could get an exact location.

Meanwhile, Alaska State Troopers coordinated the ground search and called in Juneau Mountain Rescue. JMR set up an incident command at the Eaglecrest Lodge and sent a team into the woods west of the ski area. Federal Aviation Administration officials and the Civil Air Patrol also were involved in the search. Eaglecrest employees and Alaska Zipline Adventures provided support at base camp.

Trooper Sargent Tim Birt said it was a “moment by moment operation,” with heavy rain and wind moving through the area.

“The aircraft is described as a yellow, white and brown for the colors, Birt said. “The tail number is N as in November, 73045, and it’s a small single engineer aircraft.”

Birt does not know if any passengers were on board.

According to the FAA Registry for Aircraft N-Number, the plane is a Cessna 140, registered to Darrel A. Strachan and Dianna L. Strachan, of San Jose, California.

Coast Guard spokesman Mosely said the plane was based in Anchorage.